Because of the geographical and historical reasons Turkey is listed in two or more country sections. Big proportion of the land is in Asia, The system is completely from Europe (in spite of the amendments in the legal texts the sources of Turkish law is Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy). According to other classifications, Turkey is a Middle Eastern country.

The Turks prefer to be known as just Turkish since no other classification exactly fits into the geographical status of the country.

In respect to IP system, it can be easily told that the Turkish system is a mixture of European IP laws. When these laws were first issued they were criticized to be too European and luxury for a country where there has been no enforcement of IP law (we have to admit that there has been many important case studies and court decisions depending on violation of IP rights under the context of unfair competition).

Even though the laws are new and “modern” the civil procedure can be too slow contrary to the rapidness desired in the legal texts. Criminal procedure can be too practical in terms of trademarks which allow the right owner to get a satisfactory result (24-72 hours for confiscation of imitated goods). Civil courts try to set the balance between the right owners’ benefit and the claims of the defendant party. Having long periods between court hearings makes the system further from the ideal from foreseen in the documents.

Registration system is almost same with other countries in Europe. Being out of OHIM system makes Turkey a non-European country even though the country is a part of EPC. So Turkish attorney can make European Patent Validations or applications but they can not make any CTM or Community design applications.